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George leads Pacers past Hawks 107-90

Atlanta’s Josh Smith (5) is defended by Indiana’s Paul George during Game 1 of their first-round NBA playoff series Sunday in Indianapolis. The Pacers defeated the Hawks 107-90.

INDIANAPOLIS — Paul George insisted a little rest and a new focus would make change everything for the Indiana Pacers.

His made sure that prediction came true Sunday.

Following the best season of his three-year career, George opened the playoffs by producing the first postseason triple double of his career — 23 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists — and led the Pacers out of their late-season funk and past Atlanta 107-90 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.

Suddenly, all those problems ailing the Pacers have been forgotten.

“I know what the team will expect from me now,” George said. “But, again, I like the pressure”

He can expect to be dealing with even more of it in the best-of-seven series.

While George went 3 of 13 from the field, he made his first 17 free throws tying Reggie Miller’s single-game playoff mark for best percentage. George missed his 18th and final attempt with 2:35 to go. It was about the only thing that went wrong for the All-Star forward who had Indiana’s first triple double in the playoffs since Mark Jackson on May 13, 1998 against New York.

Indiana also has a 1-0 lead for the first time since beating the New Jersey Nets 90-88 in 2006.

“It was huge for our confidence,” George said. “We got back to playing our style of basketball.”

He had plenty of help, too.

George Hill, who sat out parts of practice Friday and Saturday with an injured left groin, made his first six shots and finished 7 of 10 from the field with three 3-pointers and 18 points. And Roy Hibbert added 16 points and 11 rebounds on a day the Pacers outrebounded Atlanta 48-32 and limited the Hawks to 14 fast-break points.

Indy native Jeff Teague led the Hawks with 21 points and seven assists, while Josh Smith had 15 points and eight rebounds. The only other Atlanta player to reach double figures was Al Horford with 14 points.

“We didn’t come up with the big plays,” we didn’t come up with the hustle plays, the energy plays,” Hawks coach Larry Drew said. “ ... They just clearly outworked us.”

SAN ANTONIO — Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker scored 18 points each as the San Antonio Spurs led from early in the first quarter and beat the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round series.

Despite the double-doubles from Howard and Gasol, the Lakers failed to take full advantage of their inside presence, much to the consternation of the injured Kobe Bryant, who watched the national broadcast.

Los Angeles’ length caused San Antonio problems early as the Spurs missed their first three shots — all inside the paint — as they altered their shots to avoid Howard and Gasol.

Nash, who returned after missing nine games with a hip/hamstring injury, gave the Lakers their only lead with a jumper on the game’s opening possession.

Duncan broke the drought, hitting a pair of jumpers over Gasol that gave San Antonio a 4-2 lead with 9:33 remaining and the Spurs led the rest of the way.

The Lakers shot 35 percent from the field in the first half, primarily missing shots from 11 feet and out. Los Angeles had 10 points in the paint, but could not consistently work the ball inside for attempts.

“What I would say if I was there right now,” Bryant tweeted. “Pau get ur (butt) on the block and don’t move till u get it.”

Los Angeles pulled within 28-24 with 7 minutes left as Howard had four points in an 8-0 run, including an alley-oop dunk off a feed from Gasol to cap the run.

HEAT 110, BUCKS 87

MIAMI — LeBron James has never taken fewer shots in a playoff game than he did on Sunday night, which at first glance might seem like a good thing for the Milwaukee Bucks.

It was not.

James scored 27 points on 9 for 11 shooting — finishing two assists shy of a triple-double — while Ray Allen scored 20 off the bench and the defending champion Heat picked up where they left off in the NBA playoffs a year ago, never trailing on the way to beating the Bucks 110-87 in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference first-round series.

Dwyane Wade scored 16, Chris Bosh added 15 and Chris Andersen finished with 10 on 4 for 4 shooting for the Heat, who opened their title defense by holding Milwaukee to 42 percent shooting and outrebounding the Bucks 46-31.

Brandon Jennings scored 26 points and Monta Ellis added 22 for the Bucks, who have not won the opening game of a playoff series since May 2001.